KiCad README

For specific documentation about building KiCad, policies and guidelines, and source code documentation see the Developer Documentation website.

You may also take a look into the Wiki, the contribution guide.

For general information about KiCad and information about contributing to the documentation and libraries, see our Website and our Forum.

Build state

KiCad uses a host of CI resources.

GitLab CI pipeline status can be viewed for Linux and Windows builds of the latest commits.

Additional status is available for builds:

Release status

Files

• AUTHORS.txt - The authors, contributors, document writers and translators list
• CMakeLists.txt - Main CMAKE build tool script
• copyright.h - A very short copy of the GNU General Public License to be included in new source files
• CTestConfig.cmake - Support for CTest and CDash testing tools
• Doxyfile - Doxygen config file for KiCad
• INSTALL.txt - The release (binary) installation instructions
• uncrustify.cfg - Uncrustify config file for uncrustify sources formatting tool
• _clang-format - clang config file for clang-format sources formatting tool

Subdirectories

• 3d-viewer - Sourcecode of the 3D viewer
• bitmap2component - Sourcecode of the bitmap to PCB artwork converter
• bitmaps_png - Menu and program icons
• CMakeModules - Modules for the CMAKE build tool
• common - Sourcecode of the common library
• cvpcb - Sourcecode of the CvPCB tool
• demos - Some demo examples
• Documentation - Developer documentation (deprecated; moved to https://dev-docs.kicad.org)
• eeschema - Sourcecode of the schematic editor
• gerbview - Sourcecode of the gerber viewer
• helpers - Helper tools and utilities for development
• include - Interfaces to the common library
• kicad - Sourcecode of the project manager
• libs - Sourcecode of KiCad utilities (geometry and others)
• pagelayout_editor - Sourcecode of the pagelayout editor
• patches - Collection of patches for external dependencies
• pcbnew - Sourcecode of the printed circuit board editor
• plugins - Sourcecode for the 3D viewer plugins
• qa - Unit testing framework for KiCad
• resources - Packaging resources for various operating systems
• scripting - SWIG Python scripting definitions and build scripts
• scripts - Example scripts for distribution with KiCad
• template - Project template
• thirdparty - Sourcecode of external libraries used in KiCad but not written by the KiCad team
• tools - Other miscellaneous helpers for testing
• translation - Translation data files (managed through Weblate for most languages)
• utils - Small utils for KiCad, e.g. IDF, STEP, and OGL tools and converters